If DH sees dishes on the counter, he'll put them in the sink. This includes my tea mug that I purposely leave out so I can fix myself more tea. DH is admittedly on autopilot when he does this, so I try to leave my mug in a place he won't easily notice. When I forget and leave it by the sink, I'm later fishing it out of the sink.

If DH sees dishes on the counter, he'll put them in the sink. This includes my tea mug that I purposely leave out so I can fix myself more tea. DH is admittedly on autopilot when he does this, so I try to leave my mug in a place he won't easily notice. When I forget and leave it by the sink, I'm later fishing it out of the sink.

Oh yes! I came up with the term "active mug" for that. "Nononono, don't take that one, that's my active mug!"

If DH sees dishes on the counter, he'll put them in the sink. This includes my tea mug that I purposely leave out so I can fix myself more tea. DH is admittedly on autopilot when he does this, so I try to leave my mug in a place he won't easily notice. When I forget and leave it by the sink, I'm later fishing it out of the sink.

Or some other specialty coaster that says "this is my mug I'm using today, leave it alone"?

My DH will throw out your half-drunk soda, or the last 2 inches of your drink from dinner. Even if you *tell* him, "I'm still drinking this," if he sees it, he'll dump it.

My DD and I tried everything on the spectrum, from explaining, pre-emptively announcing, getting mad afterward.

I even pointed out to him, that HE does this w/ his own glass on the kitchen counter. And will toss mine, even if it's sitting right next to his. I told him I didn't want to start throwing his glass of water out and putting it in the dishwasher.

(I'd get one of those coaster-type solutions, but I really don't think it would work--he'd throw out your drink and put the coaster away.)

TheNormalGuy and I are moving in together after living with our respective parents. Normal Guy's mother insists on bringing over all his stuff straight away (before we even had furniture) and stashing it in the garage after he specifically told her not to (he was going to get them himself in a few days once we had bookcases). So now all his books are jammed into overstuffed bags, including ones he borrowed from friends and special first editions. Also, those clothes we asked you not to bring round? Well, as the place you left them has a bug infestation*, we now have to rewash all these bags of clean clothes before we can bring them into the house.

Apparently my mother wanted to get into the action and dragged all those books 'out of the way' into an awkward place because she 'had nothing to do', and has 'moved heaps of times, so I know better than you', despite me telling her not to move them. This happened on the same day that the bookcases arrived. Guess who got to retrieve all those books while injured?

*Bugs have since been taken care of, but we still had to rewash everything just in case.

TheNormalGuy and I are moving in together after living with our respective parents. Normal Guy's mother insists on bringing over all his stuff straight away (before we even had furniture) and stashing it in the garage after he specifically told her not to (he was going to get them himself in a few days once we had bookcases). So now all his books are jammed into overstuffed bags, including ones he borrowed from friends and special first editions. Also, those clothes we asked you not to bring round? Well, as the place you left them has a bug infestation*, we now have to rewash all these bags of clean clothes before we can bring them into the house.

Apparently my mother wanted to get into the action and dragged all those books 'out of the way' into an awkward place because she 'had nothing to do', and has 'moved heaps of times, so I know better than you', despite me telling her not to move them. This happened on the same day that the bookcases arrived. Guess who got to retrieve all those books while injured?

*Bugs have since been taken care of, but we still had to rewash everything just in case.

My mom does the same thing with my water glass. When I visit my parents I am staying with them, so I understand it's her house and her rules, but she has a habit of cleaning up anything and everything that is out even if we are using or working on it. So I will get a glass of water, set it down, walk out of the room, and when I come back moments later it is in the dishwasher. I have to announce my glass is in use everytime I do anything away from its exact location.

Dad gets more frustrated as she likes to put away his works in progress while glue is setting or paint drying (model cars). She doesn't move the model, but will put away everything else he was going to use after the glue/paint dries.

My mom thinks she is "helping" by keeping my DD amused when we go out to eat. But she doesn't do this by helping her color, or engaging her in conversation--her solution is to either a) take DD on random walks around the restaurant (the waitstaff LOVES that ) or giving her her phone or iPad to play on.

DD is almost 7. I feel at that age she should be expected to be able to at least sit through dinner without playing Angry Birds! I sure was

That reminds me of one Christmas morning when my then two-year-old daughter was getting very antsy about opening the gifts under the tree. We were waiting for my husband's siblings to arrive (which is a story in itself), and they were taking their sweet time. My MIL said "Tell you what - Daughter can open this gift from us, and it'll keep her occupied." Great idea - except that the gift was a child-size rocking chair. Nice present, definitely, but not exactly the kind of thing that'll interest a two-year-old for more than five seconds.

TheNormalGuy and I are moving in together after living with our respective parents. Normal Guy's mother insists on bringing over all his stuff straight away (before we even had furniture) and stashing it in the garage after he specifically told her not to (he was going to get them himself in a few days once we had bookcases). So now all his books are jammed into overstuffed bags, including ones he borrowed from friends and special first editions. Also, those clothes we asked you not to bring round? Well, as the place you left them has a bug infestation*, we now have to rewash all these bags of clean clothes before we can bring them into the house.

Apparently my mother wanted to get into the action and dragged all those books 'out of the way' into an awkward place because she 'had nothing to do', and has 'moved heaps of times, so I know better than you', despite me telling her not to move them. This happened on the same day that the bookcases arrived. Guess who got to retrieve all those books while injured?

*Bugs have since been taken care of, but we still had to rewash everything just in case.

Oh, it is usually an hour before. Even if they had plenty of time to do so. It used to make us late, but I just leave without the person who is still packing when it is time to go. They get a 30 minute, 15 minute and 5 minute warning.

Oh, it is usually an hour before. Even if they had plenty of time to do so. It used to make us late, but I just leave without the person who is still packing when it is time to go. They get a 30 minute, 15 minute and 5 minute warning.